Ski Builders Forum

Got some vacation time coming so guess what I’ll be doing??

The reason for this build is to compare a ski I made w/ a solid ash core (the quilted maple ski) to a glue-up core of maple and pine I’m making now. The solid ash core ski measures 168cm 122-70-116. The core on the ash is approx 3mm tip, 12-13mm center, 3-4mm tail (no wonder it’s firm….) No doubt this ski should be softer.

(* As a side note I originally had the pine part of the ski made up of ¼ inch strips of pine and ash with maple sidewalls and maple center. Well the glue-up was a total PITA trying to clamp the strips into the finger joints of the core. It was a total failure trying to keep the wood strips aligned. So I started over using a solid piece of pine in the core. I guess I could have glued up the strips first and then machined it for the maple core…. Maybe next time. *)

Post about the other ski:

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewt ... lted+maple


My supply of ash has dwindled. I have 5 other ash cores set aside ready to be shaped, but for this build I’m using maple and pine. Still have lots of maple. The pine strips run from in front of the toe area and behind the heel area. I wanted solid maple under the binding area which is 18inches long. The core is 5 inches wide. The pine strips are 2 inches wide. The sidewalls (if you want to call ‘em that) are 1.5 inches wide. I’m not using plastic sidewalls.

I have machined the maple/pine core to 3mm tip, 12mm center, 4mm tail. I decided to weigh the cores on the official kitchen scale. One core weighs 2lbs 8oz. the other weighed 2lbs 11 oz. That seems like a big difference. So I’ll have to give the heavier one a light sanding to get it closer in weight w/o changing the overall dimension too much. Wonder if the density of the maple is different between the cores???

I had a strange anomaly with the planer. As the cores went through the planer on the planer crib one ski seemed to plane out a little wavy while the other was perfectly smooth. This has never happened before. Not sure what caused that. But a light sanding afterwards took care of it. I’ll have to check the planer, make sure the blades are set properly. But it was weird.

I used hot a glue gun to glue the core down to the crib. That worked well. Just be careful when removing the core.

Just showing the placement of the core on the crib making sure the core lines up on my crib in the correct spot. The market on the left is the beginning of the binding are. the second line is the center line of the core.



The core before profiling:



Core showing the binding area placement:



That’s it for now. I’ll post more in the coming days.

Great carpentry skills - looking forward to seeing future posts.

Hey Desmond
I read on graf snowboards that they stick duct tape to their crib and to the underside of the core then place the hot glue in between the two layers of duct tape. That way it holds it in place but once you are done you just peel off the duct tape rather than having to separate hot glue from the wood. I haven't tried it but the theory sounds good. I will hopefully get my first cores planed this weekend.

Good to see activities from the workshop!..

I will produce some new cores later this week. And a new planer jig.
I've just invested in a "combi machine" which has a "real" planer! So for me it might be: "welcome back planer"!

Cheers

You're going to vary you're core profile by at least 0.3 mm underneath your core if you tape and glue...

You're going to vary you're core profile by at least 0.3 mm underneath your core if you tape and glue...

I have grip tape on the bed of the crib that terminates just before the end of my core. I think the couple of layers of tape will roughly equal the thickness of the griptape. This part is in the sacrificial area I will cut off the end of the core anyway so hopefully should be OK.

falls wrote:Hey Desmond
I read on graf snowboards that they stick duct tape to their crib and to the underside of the core then place the hot glue in between the two layers of duct tape. That way it holds it in place but once you are done you just peel off the duct tape rather than having to separate hot glue from the wood. I haven't tried it but the theory sounds good. I will hopefully get my first cores planed this weekend.

Just came back from 4 days at the beach in Maine.

I didn't think of using duct tape and hot glue in that way. I'll give that a try. I thought I was screwed when it came time to remove the cores from the crib. I used a thin putty knife and that worked ok. I like the idea of grip tape also. I shopped around for it at Home Depot the other day. Didn't find any. I thought about gluing down coarse sand paper to the crib.....

Plans for this week are to build a steam box to use for this set of cores. The steam box will put a 1/2inch camber in the core. And I have an idea for an adjustable planer crib floating in my head to handle 150cm - 185cm skis. Basically it will have 2 sliding wedges. One in front and one behind the binding area, calibrated for each ski length. Maybe I should draw it up first .

I'll post the builds for those 2 activities on 'Equipment and Tools" with links back to here to keep the build together.

Falls/OAC- looking forward to seeing new cores!

Best place for grip tape is eBay skateboard stores/auctions. It is self adhesive stuff you use on top of skateboard decks for grip. Pretty cheap. Readily available in the USA. Different widths and roll lengths. Plus you can get some rad designs like police tape or skull and cross bones depending on your planer crib tastes!

Will be steaming the cores:

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2476

Ok, so if you saw the "Steam Box" post then you know this ended badly. But the build will go on. I'll be starting over with new cores since the reason for the post was to compare solid wood core (ash) to a blended wood core.

I'll still be using maple since I have it on hand. Maybe use Douglas Fir also since it usually has a very straight grain pattern to it. But white pine is also an option.

I say press the warped cores. See what happens. I bet the glass will hold shape with pneumatic pressure.

I was tempted to use the cores if only the tip/tail sections were warped. I figured the pressure/FG/epoxy could probably fix that problem. But they are warped/curled under the foot/binding area too.

I was hoping for better results. I wanted to go old school and make an all wooden ski w/ the steamer.

I already took apart the steam box.

I was bored and took another look at the warped cores tonight. Not sure if letting them sit in the basement and dry out for a few days effected them but they didn't seemed as bad as the day I took them out of the steamer.

I ran them over the joiner. Shaved just a fraction off each side to see if it would square/flatten them up at all and they look pretty darn good afterwards!

I took some measurements at the points where the tip and tail will start to bend, on each side of the cores. The tips are 3mm. One side of 1 core is 3.5mm. I can sand that down. The toe area is 11mm on both cores, boot center is 12mm on both cores, tail is 4mm with 1 core measuring 4.5mm on 1 side. That can be sanded out. I ran the edge of a steel square over the top and bottom of the core and they look pretty flat.

With the ski resting on a flat surface the camber measures 7/16 inch. So the camber retained itself.

I re-weighed the cores and found the difference in weight. One core was slightly wider than the other. I shaved each edge of the heavier core using the joiner until the widths were the same. There's about 1/2oz - 3/4oz difference now. Once I sand out the above differences I should be good to go.

Monty - I'll be pressing the cores!

This build is back on!

(* as for the steam box, I took it apart. No plans to put it back together just yet. I'll see how the skis turn out. *)

Success!

Looking forward to seeing your results, both on the steamed core and the comparison between blended and normal wood.